Conveyor systems



April 26, 1955 J. L. PETTIT- CONVEYOR SYSTEMS 2 Sheet-Sheet 1 Filed March 4, 1953 ll I l l I I I III April 26, 1955 J. LQPETTIT CONVEYOR SYSTEMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 4, 1953 kLPelZzZ Ma Q y IN V EN TOR. Ja

2 m In :5: I 3 2 United States Patent Ofiice 2,706,991 Patented Apr. 26, 1955 2,706,991 CONVEYOR SYSTEMS Jack L. Pettit, Florham Park, N. J., assignor to Metalwash Machinery Company, Elizabeth, N. J., a copartnership Application March 4, 1953, Serial No. 340,315 7 Claims. (Cl. 134-125) to thereby eliminate air pockets within the empty cartridge present invention to provide a conveyor of the above type wherein the empty cartridge shells or other containers will be automatically tilted in the reverse direction just after leaving the bath to permit the liquid to drain off back into the bath.

Other objects of the present invention are to provide a conveyor for immersing cartridge shells or other containers in a liquid bath bearing the above objects in mind which is of simple construction, inexpensive to manufacture, has a minimum number of parts, is easy to use and efiicient in operation.

For other objects and a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

igure 1 is a side elevational view of a conveyorembodying the features of the present invention and taken on line 11 of Fig. 2; 1

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing the moving parts of the present invention in end elevation;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and showing the moving parts of the present invention in end elevation;

Fig. 4 is a top present invention; and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of one of the cartridge shells during immersion with the escaping air indicated by arrows.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings, in which stantially as illustrated.

As shown in Fig. 1, the rails 11 extend parallel to the floor 12, as at 13, and slope downwardly above and parallel to the sides 14 of liquid bath 15, as at 16. The rails 11 continue parallel to the bottom 16a of the bath, as at Vertical displacement of the plate 22 relative to the rails 1 is prevented by a pair of inner rails 27 which slidably receive a T-shaped member 28 fixedly carried at the top of plate 22, as shown in Fig. 2.

A conveyor belt 29 moves between the rails 11 in the perspective view of a portion of the direction of arrows shown in Fig. 1 and serves to move the plate 22 in the same direction.

The bottom of plate22 along its central portion is integrally formed with a pair of laterally spaced, downwardly extending arms 30 which pivotally mount a plate 31 by means of a pin 32.

e rear vertical wall 32 is suitably mounted at one side of rails 11, substantially as shown in Fig. 1. It will be noted that this rear wall extends parallel to the portion 13 of rails 11, as at 33, continuing downwardly below and parallel to the portion 16 of rails 11, as at 34, continuing across the top of the bath below and parallel to the portion 17 of rails 11, as at 35. The portion 35 of wall 32', it will be noted, is of less height than the porthe latter being disposed above the side 18 of bath 15, as shown in Fig. 1.

The plate 31 on the side adjacent wall 32' ries a pair of outwardly extending arms 39, the arms 39 being disposed at substantially right angles to the plate 31. The vertical rollers 40 are rotatably mounted at the ends of arms 39 by means of plates 41 and shaft 42, as shown in Fig. 2. The rollers 40 ride along the wall 32 at all times.

portion 46 (see Fig. 2).

It will be noted by an inspection of Fig. 1 that the shelf 43 begins and ends within the limits of bath 15 for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

An arm 47 is pivotally mounted at one end on the front face of plate 31 by means of longitudinally spaced brackshown in Figs. 2 and 3. A roller 50 is rotatably mounted at the forward end of arm 47 in and along the longitudinal axis of the arm 47, this roller riding the inclined surface 44 of shelf 43. A contraction spring 51 connects the midpoint of arm 47 to plate 31, Fig. 2, limiting the downward displacement of arm 47 in a manner to be hereinafter described.

A rectangular frame 52 of the type commonly employed to immerse a plurality of cartridge shells 21 in they move towards the bath 15.

As the frame 52 approaches the edge of bath 15, the rear rollers 40 come into contact with and ride the portion 33 of rear wall 32'. As the rear rollers 40 pass downwardly onto the portion 34 of rear wall 32', the ront roller 50 comes into contact with and rides the Simultaneously, the rails 11 dip downwardly and the frame 52 is immersed in bath 15, as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 1. Thus, as the shells 21 are immersed in the bath, they are automatically tilted upward to the position shown in Fig. with their open ends uppermost and permitting air to escape and preventing the formation of air pockets. Such air pockets would prevent the alkaline liquid from coming into contact with the entire interior surface of the shells and are automactially eliminated due to the upward tilting of the frame 52 occasioned by shelf 43 and roller 50. As the plate 22 and rollers 25 thereof move onto the lowermost portion 17 of the rails 11, the frame 52 is submerged to its greatest depth and is retained in the tilted position of Fig. 2 by the continuation of shelf 43 across the bath. it will be noted that the rearmost rollers it? during this time continue to ride the wall 32' along portion 35 thereof.

The inclined position will be retained until the plate 22 moves upwardly away from the bath along portion 36 of wall 32. At this time the roller 50 will move out of contact and above the inclined surface 44 of shelf 43, lowering the frame 52 to the dotted line position of Fig. 2. However, as the plate 22 continues upwardly along portion 19 of rails 11, the rear rollers it? come into contact with rearwardly inclined portion of wall 32, as shown in Fig. 3, rotating plate 31 rearwardly and effectively lowering the forward edge of frame 52. Thus, as soon as the frame 52 leaves the other end of the bath 15, the forward end thereof is lowered, as shown in Fig. 3, permitting the liquid to drain from the open end of shells 21. It will be noted that this draining occurs prior to the passing of the frame 52 beyond the side 18 of the bath. This drainage will continue until the end of portion 37 of wall 32 is reached. It will be readily apparcut that the major portion of the drainage will escape while the conveyor is still over the bath. Thus, an economy of bath liquid is effected and the possibility of excess amounts being transferred to the floor 12 is thereby prevented.

Thus, as the frame 52 moves away from the bath the shells 21 are once more disposed as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 2 and have been drained free of bath liquid.

It will be noted that the downwardly extending arms 30 are each freely spaced from the plate 31 pivotally mounted therebetween, thus permitting the rearward rotation of the plate 31 when rollers 49 contact portion 37 of wall 32.

The spring 51 will be such as to exert sufiicient tension upwardly on the arm 47 so as to retain the frame 52 in a substantially vertical position when the arm 47 is freely suspended.

It should now be apparent that there has been provided a conveyor for cartridge shells or other containers for immersing the same in a liquid bath wherein the cartridge shells or other containers will automatically be tilted so as to prevent the formation of air pockets when submerged in the bath, thus permitting the liquid to come into contact with the entire interior surface of the shells. It should also be apparent that there has been provided a conveyor of the above type wherein means are also provided for automatically tilting the cartridge shells or other containers in the reverse direction permitting the liquid to drain off prior to passing from the bath area, thereby effecting an economy in bath liquid and preventing the same from being transferred excessively to the floor surrounding the bath.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A conveyor for immersing containers in a bath comprising a frame housing a plurality of empty containers with the open ends thereof disposed to one side, overhead tracks, said tracks dipping downwardly. at one end of the bath and dipping upwardly at the other end, carriage means movable along and suspended from said tracks, means for moving said carriage means along said tracks, a substantially vertical plate pivotally mounted at the bottom of said carriage means, said frame being suspended from the bottom of said vertical plate, a substantially vertical wall extending across the bath at one side of said tracks, said vertical wall extending below said tracks and following the contour thereof, arms fixedly carried by the adjacent face of said vertical plate and extending towards said vertical wall, said arms being disposed at substantially right angles to said vertical plate, rollers rotatably mounted at the ends of said arms and adapted to ride said vertical wall, a substantially horizontal shelf extending across the bath at the other side and below said tracks, said shelf being downwardly inclined toward said vertical wall, said shelf terminating at both ends above the bath, at least one arm pivotally mounted on the side of said vertical plate adjacent said shelf, said arm extending to and terminating above the inclined surface of said shelf, a roller carried by the outer end of said arm and adapted to ride said inclined surface, spring means for limiting the downward displacement of said arm, said frame near its side adjacent said vertical wall being pivotally supported from the bottom of said vertical plate, said frame along its side adjacent said shelf being pivotally supported from said arm extending to said shelf, said shelf being adapted to raise said rollers and arm as said frame and containers are immersed in the bath whereby to raise the side of said frame adjacent said shelf and to tilt the open ends of the containers upwardly during immersion whereby to prevent the formation of air pockets in the containers, and means for tilting the open ends of the containers downwardly as they leave the bath whereby to permit the draining off of bath liquid after immersion has been completed.

2. A conveyor according to claim 1, tilting the open ends of the containers they leave the bath comprising a part of said vertical wall which is inclined upwardly and away from said tracks below the portion thereof which dips upwardly and continues away from the bath whereby to raise said rollers and arms riding said vertical wall and to tilt said vertical plate towards said vertical wall.

3. A conveyor for immersing empty containers in a bath comprising a frame housing a plurality of empty containers with the open ends thereof disposed to one side, overhead tracks, said tracks dipping downwardly at one end of the bath and dipping upwardly at the other end, carriage means movable along and suspended from said tracks, means for moving said carriage means along said tracks, a substantially vertical plate pivotally mounted at the bottom of said carriage means, said frame being suspended from the bottom of said vertical plate, means for tilting the open ends of the containers upwardly as they are immersed in the bath whereby to prevent formation of air pockets in the containers, and means for tilting the open ends of the containers downwardly as they leave the bath whereby to permit the draining off of bath liquid after immersion has been completed, said fcarriage means comprising a substantially horizontal plate, upwardly extending arms fixedly carried at the longitudinal sides of said plate, said arms straddling said tracks from below, said tracks including bottom horizonflanges extending toward said upwardly extending arms, rollers carried at the upper ends of said upwardly extending arms and adapted to ride said flanges, means for limiting the upward displacement of said plate relative to said tracks, a pair of laterally spaced downwardly extending arms fixedly carried by the bottom of said plate, said vertical plate being received between said downwardly extending arms in freely spaced relation thereto, and a pin piercing said downwardly extending arms and said vertical plate.

4. A conveyor according toclaim 3, said means for limiting the upward displacement of said plate relative to said tracks comprising a pair of inner rails carried by adjacent faces of said tracks at the lower edges thereof, and a substantially T-shaped member slidable between said rails, said T-shaped member at the bottom thereof at each side having laterally extending flanges slidably engaging the bottom of said rails, said T-shaped member being fixedly connected to the top of said plate.

5. A conveyor for immersing containers in a bath, comprising a frame housing at least one container disposed transversely of the bath with the open end thereof disposed to one side, overhead track means, said track means dipping downwardly at one end of the bath and dipping upwardly at the other end, carriage means moving along and suspended from said track means, means for moving said carriage means along said tracks, means for suspending said frame from the bottom of said carriage means, first cam follower means carried by said said means for downwardly as suspension means, a first cam surface extending across the bath at the one side of said track means and adapted to raise said cam follower means to tilt the open end of the container upwardly whereby to prevent the formation of air pockets as the container is immersed, said frame being pivotally supported from the bottom of said suspension means, second cam follower means on the other side of said suspension means and a second cam surface cooperating with said second cam follower means, said second cam surface being adapted to raise said second cam follower means after said first cam follower liquid after immersion has been completed.

6. A conveyor according to claim 5, said first cam follower means being pivotally connected to said suspensurface being pivotally supported from the bottom of said suspension means, said frame near its side adjacent said first cam surface being pivotally supported from said first cam follower means.

7. A conveyor liquid bath said vertical plate, a central arm pivotally mounted on the other side of said vertical plate, the outer end of said central arm being adapted to extend beyond said downwardly inclined surface of said shelf, a roller rowardly extending hooks pivotally carried at each end of said vertical plate at the bottom thereof, said frame at the top near the side adjacent said vertical wall having a pair of. loops receiving said hooks, a second hook piv- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 764,456 Grebe July 5, 1904 886,097 Vaudrevil Apr. 28, 1908 2,118,480 Somes May 24, 1938 2,482,269 Grimes Sept. 20, 1949 2,512,643 Hannon June 27, 1950 

